10 Countries Least Affected by the US Financial Crisis

Readers: Please note when this article was published. Things have changed since then.

It’s official: The United States financial crisis has reverberated around the world. Wall Street’s supernova imploded into a black hole, swallowing up the national economy, then destabilizing most locations reachable by commercial jet. That is to say, everything, everywhere.
Nonetheless, some countries are faring better than others in this stage of the crisis. While Spaniards offer banks their house keys, Malaysians shrug. While Americans talk nonstop about the Second Great Depression, Dubai investors are enjoying one of the biggest real estate booms in the tiny United Arab Emirates’ history. Thailand sighs with relief at its sizable reserves, and Armenia finally thanks the heavens above for its obscurity.

Here are ten countries suffering 80-100% less than the United States:
10. China

I was surprised to learn that China may not be dramatically affected by the United States financial crisis. As it turns out, we in the US rely far more heavily on China than she does on us.

China owns roughly 19% of US treasuries; if needed, it plans to use its sizable budget surplus to snap up even more. In addition, the United States gobbles up the majority of Chinese-made goods, meaning a decrease in consumer demand here will make for a chilly Chinese export market.

However, China is not solely dependent on the United States for financial stability. A host of new trade agreements mean China has a number of potential suitors waiting for vast quantities of goods. Domestic demand is also on the up-and-up.

Finally, China’s financial system has been closed for many years, protecting it from shady assets. Though the country will feel the international slump, its banking system is probably safe. Its high domestic demand, huge pile of capital, and numerous other major trading partners will counter the effects of US contagion.

Bad News: China would be badly hurt by a downturn in export demand from the United States and Europe. It may yet be seriously affected.

Good News: They can rely more on domestic demand and demand from less-affected countries, such as Brazil. They’re also sitting on a mountain of cash, which they are using to help bail out the United States.

Latin American economies have boomed over the past few years. Brazil, unlike some of its neighbors, stabilized its domestic economy while positioning itself for increased foreign investment. The United States is currently Brazil’s biggest trading partner, but is looking to boost transactions with China and India, other major partners.
Bad News: The United States is Brazil’s biggest trading partner.
Good News: Brazil is positioned to take advantage of trade agreements and foreign direct investment from India and China, two economies at the top of the world ladder.
8. Romania

Romania’s banks are barely exposed to international lenders. Therefore, any economic slowdown it feels will be a secondary result of global patterns. No shocks have occurred in the country itself.

Known by its own journalists the “tiger of the east,” Romania’s economy has been growing rapidly for the past few years. Though heavily embroiled in the EU’s economy, especially Italy’s, Romania is one of the world’s biggest military equipment exporters.

Bad News: High exposure to the EU and foreign direct investment subject Romania to the general effects of the coming global recession.

Good News: The country remains a hot FDI destination for European companies looking for a good deal. Its strong IT services sector—like a mini-India for the EU—is especially attractive. And then there’s that military thing, a sure winner in today’s conflict-rich world society.
7. Thailand

Although the country has recently enjoyed burgeoning trade ties with South Korea and China, both vulnerable to the US financial crisis, North Korea remains isolated enough to limp through the financial crisis relatively unscathed.

Bad News: No stranger to famines and subsistence farming, people living in this brittle Communist relic may lose hope as foreign direct investors from affected countries stall capital inflows.
Good News: North Korea’s economic isolation will, for once, come in handy.

Longstanding sanctions have kept Iran’s economy relatively insulated from foreign investment outside of a select few sectors. One of those sectors is oil—and China is one of its biggest trading partners. A fortuitous arrangement for all.
Bad News: Iran trades a lot with Europe, which is moldering under the financial crisis.
Good News: Iran does not trade with the United States. It does, however, provide petroleum to oil-hungry China, a business that should float the country for at least another decade.

This Southeast Asian country hosts a number of multinational manufacturing facilities. Though some of these companies are in the United States, experts say that bad times will promote more offshore production in bargain-rich Malaysia, not less.

Malaysia is also gaining a reputation as a good China alternative in manufacturing circles. It’s rumored to be slightly more expensive, but produces higher quality goods, and is easier to deal with. Malaysia is also gaining a reputation as a solar energy hotspot.

Bad News: Malaysia does a lot of business with the United States.

Good News: Companies looking to cut costs come to Malaysia, making it an even more likely outsourcing destination for leaner businesses.

Moroccan officials claim not to be affected by the United States financial crisis because their banks don’t contain any subprime assets. But that notion only scratches the surface of why Morocco will survive the shakeup. Its resource and agricultural assets are the real keys to its invulnerability.

For one, this stable, slow-growth economy relies heavily on agricultural assets, such as almonds. It could feed its entire domestic population with the food it produces, beneficial in a world of rising food prices.

Half of its income comes from valuable phosphate mines—32% of the world’s reserves–a commodity whose prices have increased 700% during the past two years (triggering talk of “peak phosphorus”).
Bad News: Morocco is heavily involved in foreign direct investment, especially from France, and tourism to boost its economy. These two assets will likely diminish because of the United States crisis.

Good News: Morocco’s natural assets, including its coveted phosphate, will keep its economy greased enough to offset any losses.

This small Eurasian country hasn’t involved itself much in foreign affairs. Banking is no exception. Its relatively undeveloped financial market has so few interests in the outside world that the crisis didn’t make a blip.

Bad News: Integration with outside markets means development for small countries like Armenia. Officials hunger to expose it more to external markets.
Good News: That same lack of exposure protected Armenia from the US crisis. It could be argued that Armenia is the least affected country of all.
1. The United Arab Emirates

Driven by regional oil exports, the United Arab Emirates boasts one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The UK’s Guardian calls it the home of the “Arabian Dream,” the world’s new version of the spent American dream. Dubai’s free trade zone, exalted commercial real estate market, and financial services make it an international powerhouse. This growth was fueled by oil revenues, but now has a momentum of its own.
Bad News: The UAE’s international problems revolve more around money laundering than the US financial crisis.
Good News: Almost everything. The place is booming.

If anyone reading this post lives in the countries mentioned above, please comment and let us know what things are looking like from the inside.

you dont have a clue about what you are talking about…For one brazil is heavily reliant on commodities that will see their value drop quickly and hard bc of the economic downturn. Second your number one pic is the dumbest imaginable choice, UAE has been booming only construction wise, many of the buildings it has built are empty, further it hopes of filling those units was with financiers and other high end well to do people that are getting fewer by the day.

@Charles: Brazil’s economy has grown diversified enough to make it a less-affected country: http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSWAT01027520081009. As for the empty buildings in the UAE, I appreciate the input. I haven’t visited; instead, I used news reports, stats, and overall economic situations to determine the list. People who visit the UAE, as you apparently do, are the best way of seeing what’s really going on. Do you have any pictures that you can refer readers to?

Brazil’s economy is quite big and, as you said, not that much driven to exports. However, our country’s exports boosted from US$ 40 bi to more than US$ 120 billion in less than 5 years – 3 times more, then. It represents around 10% of Brazil’s GDP, which isn’t completely irrelevant.

On this last week we are experiencing huge losses on our stock markets and our currency devaluated by more than 20%. IN A WEEK! That should be good for exporters, but this huge instability affects decisions. Additionally, commodities prices are also being affected (reduced) by crisis, which means agroindustry and mining companies may expect lower turnovers due to that in the following months.

The UAE does rely a lot on its booming construction and real estate businesses, but the economy is still not greatly affected by the economic downturn. For one, Dubai, the smaller emirate is more dependent on these businesses, Abu Dhabi less so. Furthermore, the empty buildings phenomenon in Dubai is artificial. The demand for real estate is still quite high and the Govt. wants to ensure that the supply doesn’t outstrip it, hence for years it has used the tactic of limiting the supply by not granting official municipal permission to buildings until the Govt. thinks it is wise to do it.

I am reading all your very inciteful comments. I am graduating college in December and concerned about finding a job. I live in outside of NYC, all of my family works within the city and all I keep hearing is the hardships of finding jobs. I am very serious about finding a job in Dubai, or any other country where the incentives are high and the economy is doing well. Anyone have suggestions on which is the best place and what field to get into is. I am a communications major.

Great, thanks for the reply. Does vicky or anyone else have an opinion on what industry would be the easiest or best to get into in Dubai. I do have a cousin who goes to school there and trying all possible job types, anyone know of type of jobs or companies which are actively seeking expats right now?

I think countries that were least affected are the ones with heavily isolated economies (like Iran or Syria) or countries with almost no economy (like somalia or mozambique). But a coutry like UAE was heavily affected first because rich middle eastern countries (Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia) have huge investments in the US, and secondly oil prices have heavily dropped (check GCC stock markets).
Far east countries such as malasya should also be affected since their economies are very much tied with the global economy with heavy exports and imports.
I think this article is quite inaccurate.

The UAE, especially Dubai has a number of problems. I could spend the day running through the number of problems and reasons why it will continue going forward. It seems people do not learn from mistakes made. I feel the danger of current greed at its peak will result in increased depression which traditionally brings with it social conflict/upheavil and pushing polital instability risking cross border tensions.

Coming back to the point i confidentally believe that the UAE and the wider GCC is in a prime position to leap frog going forward and become a dominant globl player even after reviewing current problems. As I am a Human Capital specialist I trully belive the UAE needs to reevaluate how to build people capabilities and a workplace climate that gives a competitive edge in responding to market changes and evolving business strategies (could go on for some time on this point). I say this believing the UAE in the prime position because His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan the late President of the UAE laid the seed with a clear vision that some regional leaders may have mocked and ever since the GCC has tried to catch up.

The hope is that the advisors to the President and rulers of UAE continue supporting the strong foundations beyond profiteering but innovate and revolutionise going forward.

I don’t live in Dubai but however I live in Lebanon. Now in the UAE you can not call it a boom. A lot of worker are being slashed and many Lebanese working in UAE have lost their jobs. The problems UAE faces may not appear today but will definetly have a negative result with time.
I would like to mention that Lebanon however is booming – having not lost anything from the world’s economic crisis but on the other hand have gained – A LOT! Many Gulf investors believe Lebanese is the safest way to leave their money and that is the case.

i lived in uae and currently working in dubai, as i am reading the news almost everyday about the effect of recession here the government is saying that uae is not greatly affected. But i felt otherwise, maybe because i am working in a construction industry thats why i am feeling this way and maybe because i am personally witnessing the slashing of people here and there as reported by my friends in other firms and the freeze hiring or putting on hold of future projects there’s no way we, from construction industry feel to be secured. but i still pray that this dilemma shall not prolong. MAY GOD BLESS US ALL.

Ameer.
im lebanise living in abu dhabi,you are right lebanon is not affected from US Financial Crisis, coz lebanon dont have any assets to loose my friends its already in deep debt and every lebanise know that very well. so if u think lebanon is booming you are wrong my friend.a small country like lebanon in dept of 50 bill $ how can it boom? and now it will get affected indirectly, like u sad alot of lebanise are loosing jobs in the gcc so far i heard 20,000 and it will Reach 75,000 as i heard. hope not.

I live in Armenia and what you say is not 100% true, Armenia depends on foreign investment allot, 90% of our banks rely from investors and funds from Russia and EU and USA, as soon as the crisis started our banks do not give any lones. Also most of our construction industry depends on USA and Russian investors. Prices on goods have increased over 40% and are going to continue. The only good thing is that the currency is so far stable.

UAE has been hit very hard too. Specially Dubai. But the press nor any other source is allowed to give out all the information. This is the latest as of today.
“Moody’s reviews Dubai’s top firms”http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/581257

There was a news given by Nadia Recruting Agency that on an avg. 50 people lose their job everyday (stated only on the radio coz I could not find any site that mentioned it). I have a friend who works for a recruting company here who said he knows that about 10,000 visas r getting cancelled every month. Most are Indians and Foreigners as compared to neighbouring arab countries.

The storm is coming, I work in the biggest financial institution in the world. There will be riots, wars, deaths, homelessness, Hunger, savagery, and shortage in almost every fundamental human necessity. GOD HELP US ALL.

i live in romania and i don’t know how do you get your info but it’s crap.romania isn’t such a big military equip producer and the crisis hit us pretty hard.thousand’s of people have lost their jobs already and you can’t get a credit from a bank .beside the local currency has dropped lower than in the last 10 years and it’s in a freefal still so maybe we aren’t as bad as us and spain but we were hit just as bad as most UE states

no morocco should not be there yes it is doing well but is it slowing down a little it relly alot to international trade
the booming real estate business in marrakech is now over they are still selling but it is slowling down
average price of a house ( 2100 square feet ) in marrakech was 270,000 dollars in 2006 now it is down to 249,000 dollars for that same house so values of homes are going down in morocco not as bad of USA of course but sill it is not looking good

The list of countries least affected is not surprising. n it doesnt make sense if yu compare the effect of crisis to its effect on US> Obvious that when you ”grow big… you collapse big”,.. China stands out.

Well the term “recession” is being used unnecessarily and it seems to be the buzz word. Everything strips down to the demand and supply!!Be it labor, import,export,land,etc.This is just global market correction!!No need to worry….just get ur basics right!!

Romania:
I own a few shops being leased out in the absolute prime center of Bucharest. The companies leasing it have given me an ultimatum of a 50% lease reduction due to the crisis or they would leave…

Unites Arab Emirates:
All buildings there are standing empty with prices falling down like a brick. They are about to witness, if not already, the biggest crash they can imagine…

Thailand:
The Thai tourism is at the lowest in years. Tourist destinations and establishments are empty like nobody has ever seen before. Many establishments are gasping for survival…

i would agree with all of the list but for sure not UAE, if you live here you will know that construction stopped ,population is rapidly decreasing, and layoffs are increasing rapidly.
the bad news: they still cant believe it
the good news: hopefully abudhabi will support the country

Note: Dubai does not have Oil or Gas, 87% of the oil in UAE is coming from abudhabi, so if you said Abudhabi was not affected that would be true, as the 7 emirates operate independently on the economic side.

what?? thailand’s gdp is expecting to contract!! and there’s no forecast of gdp growth for both malaysia and thailand!! only the philippines and indonesia in southeast asia will expand it’s economy by 2.5-4.0%…others are flat and will deteriorate..
..btw, remittances and high goverment spending cushioned the philippine economy from the direct effect of the financial crisis…

OH, I DONT BELEIVE IN THE US FINANCIALL CRISIS WAR. THIS IS THE AMERICAN WAR WHICH HE HAS PUT TO OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD, AS A RETURN OF KILLING THEIR INNOCENT PEOPLE. IN FACT AMERICA IS A NONEXISTING EXAMPLE OF EVIL IN THE WORLD. HE STATRED WAR IN AFGANISTAN, IRAQ, PALESTINE, SYRIA & MOST OF THE MUSLIM CONUTRIES. HE USED HIS FULL CAPABILITIES TO DESTROY MUSLIMS, IN THE VARIOUD PARTS OF THE WORLD. SINCE THERE IS NO ACCOUNTABILITY IN THIS WORLD FOR SUCH SHITS & SINS, THUS AS A REWARD AMERICA WITH HIS SHITTTTTTTTYYYYY PEOPLE BELIVEVE THAT THEY WILL CRUSH MUSLIMS & WILL RULE THIS WORLD, BUT BELEIVE ME EVENTHOUGH OUR BROTHERS (LIKE ARAB COUNTRIES WHO ARE FULLY ENRICHED WITH VALAUABLE RESOURCES), DONT ENCOURAGE US AMERICA WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO LOOK TOWARDS ANY MUSLIM COUNTRY WITH HIS MALICIOUS THINKING. NOR ISRAEL NEVER IT WILL HAPPEN NEVER. IN THE END I WILL HAVE MY OPEN HEART WORSE PRAYERS & CURSE TO AMERICA & ALL AMERICANS” ALL AMERICANS GO TO HELLLLLLLLLLL”””

The whole wolrld has been affected diretly or indirectly by the financial crisis.For example,In Uganda where i live, prices for most products have increased by atleast 20%,and yet uganda’s financial markets are one of the most poorly developed in the whole world and entirely depends on the local population.All this is driven by the scarcity of the foreign exchange due to the financial crisis affecting the strogest economies with strong currencies like the US dollar,the Euro And the british Pound.Although Uganda’s Exports have inreased b’se of the high prices of the forex,Uganda’s economy’s considerable percentage depends on remittences from abroad and tourism which were negatively directly affected by the global financial crisis.
ALL Ugandans on average are affected by high prices. An indication that on average all countries are either facing low prices(recession)or inflation,that is If they have connections with europe and the USA. The whole world is ‘internally bleeding’.

I am sorry, but I live in the UAE and this is completely wrong. The UAE is one of the MOST affected countries in the world, especially Dubai. The real estate boom has turned into complete bust, with real estate prices (purchases and rental rates, residential and commercial) having declined nearly 50%. The effects are more palpable here than any other place I’ve been in the last year (and I’ve been to a lot of countries for substantial amounts of time, as I have three passports and my business requires me to be on the road) including the US, the UK, Mexico, Singapore, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Jordan, Turkey … to name a few. To give an example, where the main artery leading to Abu Dhabi, to the financial district, to downtown, used to be bumper-to-bumper congested this time last year, nowadays you can get to work easily. People have left in droves. Remember that this place (Dubai) doesn’t really produce anything: It was built upon expectations of growth due to foreign investment that resulted from the newly superrich throughout the world. When the crisis hit the superrich and the rich, the money stopped coming here and a huge vacuum was created: Hundreds of massive projects that were not yet funded were left hanging by the lack of funds, which meant that all the jobs (construction, finance, and all the supporting businesses) disappeared almost overnight.

One more thing: This article is also seriously wrong about Brazil’s success being due to its singular stability in Latin America. This is not true at all. Most Latin American countries have been stable for years, in tandem with Brazil. This is a continental phenomenon, not one particular to Brazil. All LA countries have been democracies for years now. This, therefore, does not explain why Brazil has escaped the brunt of the crisis.

I am a student currently writing my thesis on International Construction. Glad I came across these comments as ive been trawling through literature for months trying to find out more about the global construction economy. seems that the worlds media are sugar coating the economic crisis. I would be very interested to hear from anyone regarding the current state of affairs i.e. what countries are doing well / badly due to the stupidity of banks.
I look forward to hearing all about it. Cheers

To say that it has not impacted the economy there at all would not be correct.

Armenia has a very large diaspora in the US and Russia, and a lot of money (multimillions) come pouring in from the US diaspora alone. The come in either as monthly wire transfers through local Armenian money transfer services or as investments in the local construction projects.

The population had most of its savings in dollars, and as the US economy sank so did the price of the dollar, which mean most of the population lost some buying power. Construction projects got halted in large too. As the relatives in the US suffered unemployment and/or business slow downs they also could not help out their family members/relatives back home, thus again hurting the economy.

From purely banking point of view, you are correct, not much effected (harder to get credits for our banks though) but economy wise we got hit.

When you curse and riducule America you are lowering yourself as well. People that Blame America for everything, are idoits. Plain and simple. America may have some cause for past events and present state, but not every single American is responsible. You can’t simply judge a every person in a country because you hear or see something. Also, this guy is only wrong about the UAE because their government doesn’t want anyone to know that they are spiriling downhill. I don’t blame them. Once a country recognizes that its affected by a recession. Then measures really take a downfall. And Yes,I think we all can agree that every country is affected in some way or another, wether its involves trading,money, or goods and valuables. The author is simply trying to say. Of the countries in the world, these are the ones that are doing better then the others.

Abu Dhabi: not even scratched by the crisis, they have projects worth 100s of billions going on there in all sectors. AD gov sits on a soveriegn fund valued at 800 billion $ which is ready to aid Dubai.

just have a look at Dubais major companies and u will find their profits to have fallen during the financial crisis.. but where have they gone down from?? from an original increase of 20-30% to an increase of 10-15%. THIS is how Dubai has been affected. and i must add, it also makes me laugh when people say Dubais downfall was clear and inevitable.. when The (u.s) financial crisis was not related to Dubai in any way.

Hi,
I’m Rashid Munir:- I think any country depend on out side sources and wants to become a richest.
it’s calling money laundering directly will effect related country as well.
I left Dubai, because of crises and many people also.

It is totally wrong to say that Dubai is least affected by Economic downturn. It is badly hit by crisis, all major &minor companies financial structure has damaged. Evoryone is praying for dubai revival, still i m in dubai from last 4 years. i m in a bank job so , we can see how the exports are declined, Visitors are no more , buildings are waiting for tenants, malls are empty by real customers,peoples are loosing jobs, Banks are now very conservative , it is very hard now, totally it is a bad scenario,I m praying for Shaikh Mohammed Visionery Leader of uae, An icon of uae

I love the big country across the pond, but one thing you Americans seem to lack is national pride. “Spent American dream”? No wonder your country is going downhill with a strong fifth column working within its borders trying to bring it down.

hey Anon, third post, You are a prick. you should shut the hell up, especially when you dont know what your talking about. Of course N Korea will be suffering becuase they have embargos on all of thier products. This country is suffering becuase the US, which is run by dumb-ass pencil dicks like you, likes to control any threatening or suffering countries that have done absolutely nothing at all. This fills different ideas, about how differnt cultures and countries arent as good or are evil in the minds of you retards and you take everything in without remorse.Well let me tell you something, in many ways America is evil, becuase of the bias that is so normal and ok in this meltingshithole.
READ A BOOK, MAYBE EVEN one that isnt AMERICAN, just so you can open your binded eyes.

I have lived in Dubai for 10 years. I am a Western English expat, was is a Marketing Director, with 18 years worth of career experience. You are seriously delusional and smoking drugs if you think that Dubai has not been greatly affected by the meltdown. This place is so f****d, that I have been job-hunting for almost two years. A recruitment agent told me the other day, that a certain marketing manager position solicited over 900 responses. Rental prices have dropped drastically: a three bedroomed townhouse in the Springs used to go for US$ 65,000, and now goes for USD $ 35,000. Salaries have dropped dramatically too. Of course, the authorities persist with the ‘smoke and mirrors” PR that “Dubai is on the mend”, but it is all VERY dubious. Over the past 10 days, there have been less than 7 marketing manager positions going on the top 10 recruitment websites for UAE. Ignore the glitz about the world’s highest building and the artificial islands – half of the units are standing empty, as they cannot rent them out, and adverts for developments such as DubaiLand have all being taken down, as they are not going to happen any longer. I have lost over USD 150,000 CASH in real estate here: (1) I bought a shop for cash, and the developer has been sentenced to 19 years in jail for fraud, so write that cash off. (2) I bought a 4 bedroomed townhouse here too, and it has been delayed for 3 years, but due to the TOTAL lack of consumer protection here, I could not get out of the deal. To simply register a case (not talking about getting a lawyer even!) costs you USD$ 10,000 in “service fees” to the authorities. Hard to cover when you are unemployed – and you get no social benefits here either. If you can’t pay your rent or car, then you go to jail. Its all a load of cr** , and there is no protection whatsoever.Of course, if your developer is late in building your house, then the law gives him ONE YEAR worth of GRACE that you cannot claim against him. Wonderful life, isn’t it? Makes me sick to the stomach. bY the way, it is highly illegal for me to make such public comments, as there is a law prohibiting comments that are detrimental to the “moral, economic, cultural ethics” of the UAE. And to reply to the comment by: Comment by Someone on June 25th, 2010 at 7:11 am. Ya akhi, efta ainak. 4 out of 5 Muslim countries are “the best”? Really? Well, habibi, which countries would they be? Masr (Egypt) is crumbling and crowded, with most people below the poverty line, and Gamal is your next president, kulu sana enta tayib ya basha. Soorya is 20 years behind the rest of the world. Kuwaiti parliament…need I say more? Iraq…need I say more? Jordan…ok, I admit – more or less stable. Oman…nice place, but only one industry worth mentioning. Algeria…look at the situation of the government versus the Islamist movements. Yemen…undeveloped and an insurgency problem…Lebanon – how old is the president again? Magrib (Morocco)- nice people, but please, don’t make me laugh ya Sharbolla / Sharbat! Yes, bro, a white man who speaks Arabic. You can BS the rest of the world, but we who live in the Middle East know what the score is, so please, eéfil boák. OK, that’s all, have a nice day now! I need a beer. Maa’salama.

I live in the USA, we are not greedy… We have helped many countries out of trouble. We have stuck by many countries when we knew it was going to skrew us over. The people of the United States do not deserve the crap we get… We don’t deserve to be pis*ed on just because of our government. The financial crisis is effected everyone. Were arrogant? I think not. We put our necks out for pretty much everyone. Oh ya… To all of those who say that Americans “lack national pride”… You can just shut the hell up… We are very proud of our country!! Some aren’t a fan of our government. But the government doesn’t represent the people of America… The people of America represent us. So stop with the assuming and get it in your head that we aren’t the bad people in this situation. How about a little support and stop bitc*ing. We are all in this… We need to be there for each other.